


Wherein Cress Finds Out Cinder’s Identity

by PennTheWriter



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: (love y’all), F/M, Gen, a whole ship full of them, also Thorne can never stop complimenting Cress, and here we are, and ofc the groupchat encouraged me, anyway I hope y’all enjoy these guys being dorks, anyway I was obsessing over tlc and realized, anyway!! Enough from me it’s fanfic time!, give Cress friends dangit, he loves her ok, it’s just What He Does, no one ever told Cress who Cinder really is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25090807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennTheWriter/pseuds/PennTheWriter
Summary: Marissa Meyer never explicitly states that Cress knows Cinder is Princess Selene, it’s merely assumed. By Winter, she clearly knows. Of course, me being me, I noticed and decided to write my version of the missing chapter, wherein Cress discovers that Cinder is Selene and a whole lot of things start to make sense. This picks up right where the book leaves off, and ends where the book picks up.
Relationships: Carswell Thorne & Iko, Crescent Moon "Cress" Darnel & Wolf | Ze'ev Kesley, Crescent Moon "Cress" Darnel/Carswell Thorne, Crescent Moon “Cress” Darnel & Iko, Kai/Linh Cinder
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	Wherein Cress Finds Out Cinder’s Identity

As the door shut on Cinder and Emperor Kaito, Cress made to lead Thorne back to the cockpit to show Iko the controls, but he didn’t budge. When she glanced back, curious, she found Iko and Thorne pressed up to the door. Iko beckoned her closer, then pressed a finger to her lips.

“What are we doing?” she whispered.

“Eavesdropping,” Thorne whispered back.

Wolf soon came padding into the hallway, eyeing them up with a skeptical, laughing look in his eyes. Iko gestured for him to join them as well.

“You do realize I can hear them without putting my ear to the door, right?” he whispered with a semi-smile.

Iko shushed him. “It’s part of the aesthetic!”

They crouched there, pressed close together. Thorne was on one edge, with Cress’s back to him. She faced Iko, who had Wolf crouching comically down behind her.

They listened there, hushed, as Cinder and Emperor Kaito argued. As Princess Selene came up in conversation. They all shared glances, Thorne looking over in the others’ direction, likely force of habit. Cress was mostly confused. Why did the others all look so knowing? Had they really found the lost princess?

“It’s me, Kai. I’m Princess Selene,” Cinder said.

Cress couldn’t stifle a gasp, but she quickly pressed her hand over her mouth.

Iko glanced down at her. “You didn’t know?”

She shook her head, adding a whispered “No” for Thorne’s sake.

“That’s enough eavesdropping for tonight, I think,” Thorne said, taking Cress’s arm and pulling her away. “Iko, let’s go look at those cockpit controls. Lead the way, please,” he added to Cress.

Once they made it there, Iko flouncing into the pilot’s chair and Thorne sinking into the copilot’s, Cress standing between them, Iko looked up at Cress and said, “You didn’t know Cinder’s Princess Selene? No one told you?”

“No.” She glanced between Iko and Thorne. They both look confused.

“Why are you still here, then?” Wolf asked from the doorway. She spun, trying to disguise her jump. She hadn’t known he was there.

“What?”

“Why did you help us?”

“Because it was the right thing to do. And because you helped me first.” She twisted her fingers into her skirt, missing her long hair. All eyes were on her. There was nowhere to hide.

Thorne was the first to break the silence. He laughed. “See? You’re a hero, Cress, I’m telling you.”

She turned red.

“Captain, shouldn’t you be showing me these controls?” Iko asked, gesturing at the cockpit. Cress wilted in relief.

Wolf walked off as Thorne began to chatter, half of it about actually flying, the other half about nothing at all.

Cress was staring at her portscreen blankly, her mind elsewhere, recalling everything she knew about Princess Selene and about Cinder.

“It makes sense,” she said at last, during a lull. “Cinder being Selene. All the evidence lines up. Age, appearance, being Lunar, being cyborg, Levana’s fury, all of it.”

“Well, that just makes you the smartest out of all of us,” Thorne commented. “You see that yellow button, Iko? The one all by itself?”

Cress blushed again. The casual nature of the compliment almost made it worse. Like it was natural for him to compliment her.

As they chattered on, Cress began to check the newsfeeds, to see what they were saying on Emperor Kaito’s disappearance, if they were saying anything at all.

A new headline caught her eye.

_ Lunar Soldiers. Massacre. Cities. Paris. New Beijing. Los Angeles. Farafrah. Bloodshed. Thousands Dead. _

She screamed and dropped the portscreen.

“Cress? Cress, what’s wrong?” Iko and Thorne asked in unison, swiveling towards her. Thorne gathered up two fistfuls of her skirt.

“Cress, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wolf run into the cockpit. She focused on Thorne, on the visible concern in his face, and tried her best to take a deep breath.

“The newsfeeds—they, they're reporting—Levana—she’s attacked. With her mutant soldiers.” Shivering, she looked at Wolf. He was grim as he nodded.

“They’re vicious and bloodthirsty. More animal than human. I was lucky to escape the surgery.”

Still trembling, Cress picked up the portscreen and scrolled through the newsfeeds, her stomach churning. The violence was astronomical. Unfathomable. The Earthen leaders said it was a state of war, to evacuate. In Emperor Kaito’s absence, Konn Torin had taken charge of the Eastern Commonwealth

Through the mess in her thoughts, something became clear. “I have to tell Cinder and the emperor,” she said. Without hearing Thorne’s response or Iko’s protest, she took off running for the podship dock.

**Author's Note:**

> What happens when you’re re-obsessing over your favorite series because you and another friend made one of your friends read it? Fanfic! Major thanks to the Moon Crew for motivating and encouraging me. Love y’all! Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy this too. If you do, please let me know what you enjoyed! Feedback is the food of writers!


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